The future of the community is in good hands, judging by the quality of the YES Award winners who are featured in today’s paper and will be recognized Wednesday night at a special ceremony in the Sports View Deli, Bar and Grill at the Oak Bay Recreation Centre.
A total of 15 young men and women were the recipients of this year’s Young Exceptional Star Awards. The eighth annual awards recognize the accomplishments of youth in grades 6 through 10 in the Oak Bay area. The purpose of the awards is to bring the youth and businesses of Oak Bay closer together by promoting the noteworthy achievements and contributions these youths have made to our community.
At a time when so many headlines are devoted to the problems associated with troubled youth around the province and elsewhere, these awards provide a good reminder of the good work being done by some of the youth in our community.
This year’s recipients have shown themselves to be leaders in the classroom and demonstrated outstanding achievement in the areas of academics, athletics and the arts.
The community also deserves praise in making it possible to recognize the achievements of some of Oak Bay’s exceptional youth, as well as provide an incentive for other youth to dare to achieve their best. Thanks should be given to the 15 businesses who made the commitment to sponsor one of the awards, as well as to councillors Hazel Bratithwaite and Michelle Kirby for the tireless work that goes into heading up the YES Awards Committee.
And above all, we hope the community will join us in expressing our appreciation and admiration for the great work done by this year’s YES Award winners: Georgia Alexander, Andrei Bielay, Jack Carson, Owen Crewe, Sophie de Goode, Chris Graham, Rachel Hughes, Nicholas Kojima, Alisa Lyesina, Anika McDonald, Zachariah Mears, John Mossie, Carson Rust, Rubee Twohig and Annika Weir. Congratulations on a job well done.
Not only are they among the best and brightest that Oak Bay has to offer, they seem to be pretty nice bunch of kids as well.